Unravelling mother to baby transmission of Zika virus

A new study has shown that Zika virus can establish a persistent, replicating infection in the placenta, which is present months after the onset of the acute infection.This increases the chances of the virus reaching the fetus and may regulate factors that impact brain development. These findings are a major step forward in understanding mother to baby transmission of Zika virus, and importantly, how to stop it. The study has been published in Frontiers in Immunology. "We observed Zika spread rapidly in Brazil and saw with our own eyes the situation of pregnant women. It was really impactful and made us question how the scientific community could know so little about this disease. So as research group that already works with arboviruses, we dedicated ourselves to understanding the pathogenesis of this disease," said Lead researcher Dr. Kissila Rabelo, of Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil.